Born as an Elon Reeve Musk, Musk is famous as an engineer, industrial designer, technology entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is also the founder, CEO, CTO, and chief designer of SpaceX.
SpaceX is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company. Musk is also associated with companies like Tesla, The Boring Company, Neuralink, OpenAI, and many more.
As of 2020, Elon is one of the richest people in the world. He stands in the 9th position in the list of Forbes, having net worth of $70.2bn. To know more about Musk’s recent achievement, personal life, and net worth, read on.
Musk comes up with an idea for SpaceX
Back in 2001, Musk came with an idea of Mars Oasis. Particularly, the idea of Mars Oasis was to land a miniature experimental greenhouse on Mars. Additionally, Musk was hopeful that the idea would attempt to reawaken public interest in space exploration.
So for the project, Elon travelled Russia to buy refurbished Dnepr Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could send the envisioned payloads into space. However, the offer of the companies such as NPO Lavochkin and Kosmotras did not interest him.
As per reports, Musk wanted three ICBMs but $8 million for the single rocket was not agreeable to him. Later, Musk realised he could start a company that would be able to create affordable rockets. He discovered raw materials used to create a rocket were just 3 per cent of a rocket’s selling price.
Ultimately, with the concept of vertical integration and the modular approach used in software development, Musk found that SpaceX can enjoy a gross profit margin of 70 per cent. The idea led to the founding of SpaceX with the long-term goal of establishing a true spacefaring society.
SpaceX completes first space mission
As of late, SpaceX is the largest company to produce rocket engines in the world. The company also holds a record for manufacturing the highest thrust-to-weight ratio for a rocket engine. SpaceX collaborated with NASA in 2019 and launched its first manned flight called SpaceX Demo-2 in May 2020.
Source: Space.com
SpaceX became the first private company to both send persons into orbit and to the International Space Station. Furthermore, it was the first time since the end of the Shuttle Program that an American astronaut was launched from American soil on an American rocket.
Insight on SpaceX Demo-2
The SpaceX Demo-2 was the first crewed spacecraft test flight. The spacecraft, Endeavour, was in an action at 19:22:45 UTC on 30 May 2020. In addition, the spacecraft transported NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the International Space Station. The purpose of Demo-2 was to complete the validation of crewed spaceflight operations using SpaceX hardware.
Moreover, the mission also had a goal to obtain human rating certification for the spacecraft. In addition, the mission was also to test the capabilities of the crews on orbit. During their time onboard, Behnken led four spacewalks with fellow American astronaut Chris Cassidy to replace the batteries of the Japanese freight vehicle.
Elon Musk and his Life
Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. Additionally, he was born to Maye Musk and Errol Musk. Talking about his education, he has a bachelor’s degree in economics and physics. To earn his bachelor’s degree, he went to the University of Pennsylvania, earning both of his bachelor’s degree. Likewise, he is also a Ph.D. graduate in applied physics and material sciences, earning a degree from Stanford University.
On the other hand, he has been in a marital relationship for three times in his life. However, none of the relationships worked for him. For the first time, he was in a marital relationship with Justine Musk, marrying her in 2000 and eventually divorcing in 2008. Later, he was in a relationship with Talulah Riley, starting from 2010 until 2012. Although he divorced with Talulah in 2012, he again got involved with her from 2013 until 2016.
As of now, he is enjoying a romantic relationship with Canadian musician Grimes, dating since May 7, 2018. The couple is parenting a son born on May 4, 2020.
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